NFL 2010 - Week 13

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I just want to tell you both, good luck. We're all counting on you...

Patriots 45 - Lions 24: Thanksgiving's opener went from a competitive first half to a laugher in the second. Did Detroit fill up on turducken during half-time? Some have called them a 50 minute football team, but they barely managed 40 against New England. Tom Brady also moved past Phil Simms and Boomer Esiason on the QB TD board, so I imagine he's got a future as a CBS broadcaster.

Saints 30 - Cowboys 27: Holy crap, we had a competitive Thanksgiving game. Seemed like we had another "Dallas. :lol:" going until the Cowboys came back strong, forcing a game-winning drive by Drew Brees. New Orleans definitely earned their "random Thanksgiving trophy" from FOX.

Bengals 10 - Jets 26: I'm hard pressed to figure out if the result we saw was because Cincinnati was so bad or because the defense of New York is that good. Two interceptions, three sacks, a fumble recovery, and a safety. I've said that Marvin Lewis would last through the end of the regular season, but now I'm not so sure.

Packers 17 - Falcons 20: Playoff preview? Green Bay hopes not while Atlanta does. But, that kind of hinges on the Falcons' getting home field advantage, considering how well they play in the Georgia Dome with Matt Ryan at the helm.

Steelers 19 - Bills 16: What do you know? Another overtime loss for Buffalo. I still maintain they're the unluckiest team in the league and Steve Johnson's dropping of a TD pass in OT certainly makes you think that fate is stacked against them. But, if I'm Pittsburgh, I'm worried about how they let the Bills back into the game going into their showdown with Baltimore on Sunday night.

Panthers 23 - Browns 24: It always amazes me that games between two teams with bad records can be interesting to watch, and not just because of draft status implications. Cleveland's Peyton Hillis is now a bonafide beast at the running back position. And after a very good catch by Brandon LaFell on the sidelines, Carolina could have won if John Kasay's field goal didn't graze the wrong side of the uprights. But, looks like the Panthers are in the driver's seat for the first overall pick of the draft.

Jaguars 20 - Giants 24: For a moment, you had the feeling that this was it for New York. Down eleven at half-time, season on the brink; just what would the G-Men do? Rally to win, of course. Still, hard to be encouraged when yet another mobile quarterback breaks containment like Jacksonville's David Garrard did.

Vikings 17 - Redskins 13: They might not have wanted to win for Brad Childress, but Minnesota seemed more than willing to step up for interim coach Leslie Frazier. But then there's the little matter of Adrian Peterson getting hurt. Oh yeah, and it wasn't all that pretty to watch, what portions of it RedZone let me watch, of course. Moving on...

Titans 0 - Texans 20: Another beat-down on the scoreboard featuring an actual beat-down on the field by way of Houston's Andre Johnson against Tennessee's Cortland Finnegan. Most other articles call it a fight; I call it the equivalent of some idiot crawling into a zoo cage to tug on a lion's tail. Oh, and Vince Young's job should be a little more safe when he returns next season if for no other reason than he's not Rusty Smith.

Dolphins 33 - Raiders 17: In hindsight, it was probably a good thing that this game was blacked out in Oakland. About the only highlight for the Raiders was Jacoby Ford, while Miami's QB controversy has been settled for now with Chad Henne.

Chiefs 42 - Seahawks 24: How terrible is the NFC West right now? Seriously; I find myself wishing that Onion article about aid relief being sent to the NFC West was true. Oh, and Kansas City better be aware of one of the teams below.

Eagles 26 - Bears 31: Michael Vick? Still human. Chicago? Potential division winners in the NFC North.

Rams 36 - Broncos 33: Oh, this is going to be a long week in Denver, the other reason why I'll get to in a minute. St. Louis and Sam Bradford are probably the only bright spot in their division and maybe the feel-good story of the NFL this season.

Buccaneers 10 - Ravens 17: If Tampa Bay truly is the best team in the NFC, then the AFC has nothing to worry about. Look at their record: 7 - 0 against teams with losing records and 0 - 4 against teams with winning records. In a division featuring Atlanta and New Orleans, that isn't going to cut it. As for Baltimore, a win next week and they're back in the driver's seat.

Chargers 36 - Colts 14: Remember that credit card commercial of Peyton Manning lounging on a hotel room patio in San Diego? He wasn't getting the five-star treatment this time around. Was he channeling his inner Brett Favre? Four picks, two of them run back for scores. And gee, what do you know? The Chargers start winning halfway through the regular season. Is it possible we could see LT-less San Diego against a LT-laden New York in the playoffs? We'll see.

49ers 27 - Cardinals 6: Remember how I said that games between two bad teams could be interesting to watch? This wasn't one of those games, with San Francisco running over Arizona without Frank Gore (better get used to it) and without being forced to throw more than a smidgen of passes. It wouldn't surprise me if ESPN ended up losing the ratings war to something on the Hallmark Channel.

The Weekly Soapbox - All The Belichick's Men: It seems like major scandals in the league don't want to quietly disappear and this week is a bit of a blast from the past as the specter of Spygate darkens the NFL once again. This time, it comes by way of the Denver Broncos, who allegedly filmed practice sessions of the San Francisco 49ers prior to their Week 8 game in London. The story broke on November 27th and the NFL quickly fined head coach Josh McDaniels and the Broncos organization $50,000 apiece. Steve Scarnecchia, director of video operations, was fired and a hearing by the NFL is pending to determine if he should be barred from further employment with the league. On the one hand, it's good that the league jumped on this as fast as they did; the time between the breaking of the story and the initial punishments was only a few hours. But, did McDaniels get off too easily?

Let's start with the first issue. In his regular Monday 10-pack, ProFootballTalk.com's Mike Florio posits that McDaniels did in fact get a slap on the wrist from the league:

At a time when the league is fining players $50,000 or more for playing the game too aggressively, how can the conscious failure to disregard the plain terms of the Integrity of Game Policy not trigger a much more significant punishment?

Men like Steelers linebacker James Harrison have every right to complain. Ditto for the union, which is searching for talking points that will resonate with the public, the media, and the politicians in conjunction with the ongoing labor mess.

And there’s no better talking point than proof of a possible double standard.

Recall that in the original Spygate scandal, Bill Belichick was fined ten times the amount Josh McDaniels was. Thanks to the league's clamping down on helmet-to-helmet hits, fines for repeat offenders can range upwards $50,000 with the threat of suspension hanging over players such as the aforementioned James Harrison like the proverbial Sword of Damocles. What may still be possible is that this could provide a reason for the Broncos organization to terminate McDaniels for cause in the off season. Since they're still paying out current Washington Redskins head coach Mike Shanahan's contract, letting another head coach go simply because the team is underperforming would flush more money down the drain. At least it'd be easier for the Broncos to fire him for cause than whatever Machiavellian schemes Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis cooked up to get rid of Shanahan and Lane Kiffen.

But, on the other hand, unless there's evidence that McDaniels lied to the NFL and did in fact watch the tapes taken of the 49ers, then all he's guilty of is attempting to bury the truth. That's pretty much been the story with every major scandal dating back to the original -gate, Watergate. The highest profile person in the scandal didn't commit the crime, but instead tried to bury the truth. In that light, the McDaniels' fine being less than Belichick's makes sense. Assuming the Broncos' account of what happened is accurate, then this infraction is much less severe than what happened with the Patriots.

The league clearly wants this to go away and not go to the level that Spygate I did. Remember this went all the way up to Congress driven by Senator Arlen Specter, then of the Senate Judiciary Committee, though considering how by the Matt Walsh revelations didn't pan out and the state of the country in 2008 (and because it was an election year) it didn't turn into something like the Watergate scandal.

For those of you who weren't old enough to recall Watergate (like *Legion*) or weren't old enough to see All the President's Men in theaters (like me) or Oliver Stone's biopic Nixon (like boogle), recall that the eponymous break-in occurred in 1972 and Richard Nixon didn't resign the presidency until 1974. Indeed, the other shoe in Spygate, the ultimately unreliable Matt Walsh, didn't drop until a year later. Maybe there's more to it than this. Don't forget that Josh McDaniels once served on Belichick's staff in New England and Steve Scarnecchia is the son of Dante Scarnecchia, the offensive line coach of the Patriots.

But, it doesn't stop there: according to FOX Sports' Jay Glazer, a source within the Broncos organization said that on last Friday, McDaniels spoke with his staff to discuss the situation and how Spygate II differs from Spygate I. Said source alleges McDaniels said that in the Patriots organization, taping was "coached" and he warned (again, as per Glazer's source), “If this gets out, there are jobs on the line.” Did McDaniels out himself as the next John Dean? So far as of this writing there hasn't been a lot of traction on this facet of Spygate II and unless the Patriots' headquarters was wired with microphones like Nixon's White House, I'm not sure the league won't revisit the first Spygate because of what's happened with the sequel so far based on the fact that it's only an unnamed source. Glazer and said source haven't risen to the level of Bob Woodward and W. Mark Felt, Sr., aka Deep Throat, yet. And I doubt it'll come up on Capitol Hill, either; my read of the incoming Congress is that they'll be more interested in fighting each other like a certain Mr. Finnegan and Mr. Johnson. Where there's smoke, there's fire, but there isn't a smoking gun to connect the two, if you'll pardon the blatantly mixed metaphors.

That's it, for now at least. Head on over to the506.com for your viewing situations. This week's match-ups are all big division games, so let's get to it:

Falcons at Buccaneers: The crazy part of the NFC South is that with both Atlanta and Tampa Bay's records, there could be a chance that New Orleans misses the playoffs after winning the Super Bowl this past season. Although this game is on the road, I like the Falcons here. As I said above, all of the Buccaneers losses were to winning teams. Take the ATL by seven.

Steelers at Ravens: The AFC North is on the line here and in their last meeting, Baltimore topped Pittsburgh at Heinz Field. But, Ben Rothlisberger was still on suspension at the time. I'd lean towards the Steelers, based on my familial ties to Western Pennsylvania and because I enjoy teasing boogle, but considering what happened in Buffalo, I also have ample reason to lean towards the Ravens. How about a tie? With as late as overtime games have been going lately, it wouldn't be a shocker.

Jets at Patriots: Another one that could decide a division. The New York defense crushed the Bengals on Thanksgiving, but that was the Bungles. Earlier that day, New England survived Detroit. Recent results would make you lean towards the Jets, but I can't ignore Tom Brady and the Patriots' offense. New England by three.

Enjoy the week, folks.

Was there some unofficial contest this week between the Cowboys, Jaguars, Panthers, and Bills to see who could try to lose the hardest?

The Ravens have won seven straight at home and their running game is starting to click at the right time. The Steelers are playing well as well, but it is going to be a hard thing to come out of M&T with a win.

Great writeup about McDouche. We'll see if Glazer is just blowing smoke of if there is indeed a fire. Oh, how I do hope for a fire ... on multiple levels.

MilkmanDanimal wrote:

Was there some unofficial contest this week between the Cowboys, Jaguars, Panthers, and Bills to see who could try to lose the hardest?

None of them come close to Rat Boy in GWJFFL2.

garion333 wrote:

Great writeup about McDouche. We'll see if Glazer is just blowing smoke of if there is indeed a fire. Oh, how I do hope for a fire ... on multiple levels.

Thanks. I spent yesterday reading up on both Watergate and Spygate I; both kind of make you want to slam your skull against the wall in frustration over how people in power wield that power.

*Legion* wrote:
MilkmanDanimal wrote:

Was there some unofficial contest this week between the Cowboys, Jaguars, Panthers, and Bills to see who could try to lose the hardest?

None of them come close to Rat Boy in GWJFFL2.

If only the NFL did scores in fractions.

Oh, this made my morning...

Quick, somebody make a fake Coors light commercial out of this!

My favorite part about the game last night was how the camera kept switching to Larry Fitzgerald all the time, even when he wasn't involved in the play or was on the sideline. You can just hear the MNF producer's voice . . . "please finally freak out please finally freak out please finally freak out".

That'sfine-That'sfine-That'sfine-That'sfine.... EVERY SINGLE WEEK!!

I pour my heart and soul into this sh*t every single week!

Edit: Seriously, he may have just bumped Singletary out of the running for the Jim Mora Award.

I don't know if I should make my own thread about this, but I figured it's NFL related, let me go with it:

Office Suicide Pool, we're down to 3 people, my father and I are two of them. Of course, I want to not only knock the one guy out, but knock the old man out as well. Of course, I would NEVER actually gamble, and this is STRICTLY for fun.............

With that said, here is what I have chosen so far, and are no longer eligible for me to take:

NY Giants, Green Bay, New England, New Orleans, Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Kansas City, Atlanta, Tampa Bay, San Diego, and Cleveland (thank you John Kasey).

In Week 13, I am looking to take either the Eagles or Jaguars, and leaning toward Jax. It worries me they are on the road. Does anyone have any solid suggestions?

*Legion* wrote:

That'sfine-That'sfine-That'sfine-That'sfine.... EVERY SINGLE WEEK!!

Hahahaha. Implosion.

Can't wait to beat them again at Candlestick next month.

Fact that was news to me: If the season ended today, last year's worst team, the Rams, would be in the playoffs. Yes, it's the NFC West (which explains why I haven't paid attention to who was winning it) and all that but still...

ETA: The blurb on the page probably says it better...

If the season ended today, the Packers, Vikings, Cowboys, Chargers and Colts would be out of the playoffs, and the Rams, Chiefs and Jaguars would be in. Who could have imagined that at the beginning of the season?

I guess the parts in bold was really what surprised me.

Yeah, I love the Jets and all but I have a feeling that New England gets out in front pretty quickly and while the Jets will try to make a game of it in the second half, they'll look even more uneven and sloppy than they have the past several weeks. I hope I'm wrong, but I doubt it. (NE 27, NY 17)

Tampa's season is officially a success. No, I don't care about win totals or building for the future or anything else right now. You know why this is a good day to be a Bucs fan?

BECAUSE THE BUCS JUST CUT SABBY PISCATELLI. Who, clearly, I loathe.

This guy is so bad that he was replaced by a 7th-round rookie and, when the rookie got injured, instead of getting his starting job back, they threw him onto the street.

Grumpicus wrote:
If the season ended today, the Packers, Vikings, Cowboys, Chargers and Colts would be out of the playoffs, and the Rams, Chiefs and Jaguars would be in. Who could have imagined that at the beginning of the season?

I guess the parts in bold was really what surprised me.

Well the Vikings and Cowboys aren't much surprise. I think a bunch of us had that pegged before the season started. Weak teams who are only thought of as good because FOX Pregame talks nonstop about their skill position players.

The Packers are surprising, but I think they will run away with the wildcard after another game or two to separate themselves from the Giants.

Chargers always need December to get their playoff roll on. They may chase down the Chiefs. The AFC West will not have a wildcard team.

I'm surprised with the Jags too, as I want to say that they're holding on by a thread, but that's not really true anymore. They have wins against Indy and Houston, and have the fortune of playing their road game against Tennessee this week, where the bottom is falling out. Then they play Oakland who are finally starting to lose like Raiders are supposed to. The Jags have a very good chance of getting to 8-5 in these next two weeks, going into the game with Indianapolis, whom they've already beaten once. That game will probably be for all of the AFC South marbles, especially if Jacksonville wins and completely owns the tiebreak. Like the West, the AFC South will have no wildcard team.

I'm torn. Playoffs would be great, but the price of trading up for a franchise QB in April is getting more expensive! The Jags desperately need someone to slide to the later part of round 1 and pull a Marino/Rodgers/Flacco.

Derrick Anderson is the gift that keeps on giving:

So I guess with the Broncos this would explain the snubbing from the chiefs coach after the beat down. I forgot what was said but I think the Chiefs coach said something along the lines of "don't think the rest of NFL doesn't know what bleep you are up to. I could have my quote wrong and don't have a source, only from what I can remember reading after the incident.

SportsCenter is doing the top 10 NFL tirades sometime this hour. I live for this sh*t.

SABBY! NO!!

NOOOOOOOO!!!

*Legion* wrote:

SABBY! NO!!

NOOOOOOOO!!!

Skimmer.

*Legion* wrote:

For my snappy comeback (that I'm editing in right now after the fact), I'm going to point out that you've been misspelling Derek Anderson's name wrong all year. So there!

Do you think that is funny? You don't know the effort he puts into these threads every effing week!

*Legion* wrote:
Rat Boy wrote:
*Legion* wrote:

SABBY! NO!!

NOOOOOOOO!!!

Skimmer.

Yes, yes I am.

For my snappy comeback (that I'm editing in right now after the fact), I'm going to point out that you've been misspelling Derek Anderson's name wrong all year. So there!

You'd think I'd accidentally be doing that, what with the remote chance Derek Jeter would bring Minka Kelly with him to San Francisco.

*Legion* wrote:

Chargers always need December to get their playoff roll on. They may chase down the Chiefs. The AFC West will not have a wildcard team.

The Chiefs will play the chargers in San Diego in two weeks. That game is going to pretty tell you who is getting into the playoffs from the AFC West. If Dewayne Bowe keep acting like Larry Fitzgerald, I think they have heck of a shot. But losing to both Oakland and Denver on the road is really making this playoff run a lot tougher than it needs to be on the Chiefs. Just winning one of them would have made a big difference. so getting a raod win in SD is imperative, not just to make the playoffs, but to show signs that they might at least win a home game once they get there.

Regardless, it's fun to be watching Chiefs games in December that matter.

Rat Boy wrote:
*Legion* wrote:

SABBY! NO!!

NOOOOOOOO!!!

Skimmer.

Yes, yes I am.

For my snappy comeback (that I'm editing in right now after the fact), I'm going to point out that you've been misspelling Derek Anderson's name all year. So there!

*Legion* wrote:

SABBY! NO!!

NOOOOOOOO!!!

please please please please please sign him jaguars please please

I know what he was laughing at. He was telling Deuce "Man can you believe I'm still a starting quarterback in the NFL!"

Gumbie wrote:

I know what he was laughing at. He was telling Deuce "Man can you believe I'm still a starting quarterback in the NFL!"

"You're still better than Rusty Smith!"

Deuce--> <--Derek

*Legion* wrote:

"You're still better than Rusty Smith!"

Alex might not be the worst Smith QB in the league anymore.

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